Original Walt Disney Production Cel from The Little Mermaid featuring Ariel (1989)

We are pleased to offer an original Walt Disney production cel from The Little Mermaid featuring Ariel. In this scene, Flounder rushes Ariel to her treasure trove to show her a surprise. We see her face wide with surprise right before we see the statue of Eric glistening in the cave. She swims over to the statue and with a giggle says “Why Eric? Run away with you? This is all so…so sudden.”

 The cave is also where Ariel sings the beloved song “Part of your World,” —a song that was almost cut from the film. After young children in a test audience became restless during the scene, Katzenberg wanted to shorten or even cut the song entirely. The film's directors and Glen Keane, the lead animator of the scene, convinced Katzenberg not to make the same mistake that the Wizard of Oz almost made. They too thought of cutting “Over the Rainbow” because it was a slower paced scene. Obviously both films made the right choice.

Film critic Roger Ebert was enthusiastic about the film and wrote that," The Little Mermaid is a jolly and inventive animated fantasy—a movie that's so creative and so much fun it deserves comparison with the best Disney work of the past." Ebert also commented positively on the character of Ariel, stating, "... Ariel is a fully realized female character who thinks and acts independently, even rebelliously, instead of hanging around passively while the fates decide her destiny."

Own a piece of animation history today! SOLD.